Thanks...but she's already got that list and has tried at least three different approaches. So far no love

Part of the problem is that her computer is so old and under powered that it doesn't take much to cripple it. The virus slows it down even more so she doesn't know if waiting for 6 or 7 hours for 'malwarebites' to finish is realistic or not

Thanks...but she's already got that list and has tried at least three different approaches. So far no love

Part of the problem is that her computer is so old and under powered that it doesn't take much to cripple it. The virus slows it down even more so she doesn't know if waiting for 6 or 7 hours for 'malwarebites' to finish is realistic or not

It looks like she has succeeded in clearing the crap out but only time will tell.

She would have switched to an Apple or loaded Linux a long time ago but she has two apps that simply won't work on anything but Windows

One is here Geneology program that now has over 30,000 listings of relatives going back to the late 1600s. She has spent over 10 years building this repository and nearly every entry is validated through three or more different sources!

The other is a SIMs program that isn't quite as important but she does have a huge library of clothing fashions she created(1500+) that would likely could not be recreated.

It looks like she has succeeded in clearing the crap out but only time will tell.

She would have switched to an Apple or loaded Linux a long time ago but she has two apps that simply won't work on anything but Windows

One is here Geneology program that now has over 30,000 listings of relatives going back to the late 1600s. She has spent over 10 years building this repository and nearly every entry is validated through three or more different sources!

The other is a SIMs program that isn't quite as important but she does have a huge library of clothing fashions she created(1500+) that would likely could not be recreated.

So I guess putting everything on a flash drive is not on the table, what a shame.

Although, if you're running a PC, you should have some kind of back up it would seem; after losing two computers worth of stuff I found a way to save everything I have now..... just sayin

Peter, I am with Rick on this one. First, I pray she has backed up all of her hard work onto a flash drive or cd. If so, then format and reload is the way to go here. Many times, it takes less time to do that then to attempt to scrub the drive of the virus. Make sure she has all the drivers for her system before taking this step.

What OS version of Windows is she running? I have everything back to Win 98 in my shopping bag of software.

You're preaching to the choir however this would be much more complicated than it seems.

The computer is running Win Home and has only been updated to a certain point. A couple of years ago after one of MS updates/ Service Packs the computer became unusable. It was an MS bug that I also experienced on my machine. We reverted to the previous setup and waited for the next Win update which did work ok except, the main genology app no longer functioned. Revert once more.
No more updates were attempted until last summer...with the same results; the app would not function. So, once again revert to last known working setup.
There will be no more updates as it is obvious that the app is no longer compatible with Windows current versions.

Now the problem of redoing the hard drive would be finding and restoring it to exactly the same Windows update. Personally, I'm not sure it's worth the risk of losing the time and money invested in building the genealogical database. The app was only about $700 but there are litterally thousands of hours of research involved and perhaps thousands of dollars spent on archive searches...the people who hold things like sensus counts and church records generally charge money for you to look at them

I had that on my old XP system. I battled it gallantly but every time I thought I had it beat it would rise from the ashes and take over my computer again. I tried every bot-killer I could but the only solution was to burn it down and start over.

Due to a situation I can't control; physically touching the daughter's system is not an option...she suffers from SEVERE OCD with contamination fears. Yes; I am a source of contagion; but that is my cross to bare

Rick: if you are careful about opening e-mails or the sites you surf to; chances are you won't pick up any of the 'bugs'; but it's still possible.
Don't rely on a firewall...all it does is prevent prying eyes from looking into your computer from the Internet.

QuoteArcheo-peteriX
Rick: if you are careful about opening e-mails or the sites you surf to; chances are you won't pick up any of the 'bugs'; but it's still possible.
Don't rely on a firewall...all it does is prevent prying eyes from looking into your computer from the Internet.

Thanks Peter, I know. It's thin ice and I know it, but having the acer run fast is such a neat thing

Quoterkj
Is there a way to safeguard without slowing down the whole show?

Most of the free anti-virus programs that I've had experience with, including Avast and AVG, are huge resource hogs and slow older systems to a crawl, as you have experienced. That renders them useless, since the only way to run the computer is to uninstall the AV software.

IME Microsoft's Security Essentials (also free) does a much better job, especially in terms of playing nicely with system resources. I've installed it on some of our older (and newer) Windows computers and been quite happy with it. I never even notice it's running.